Snow in the Dark
by Yuki Tsukihana
Summary: Life is tough right after the war. Especially for a young Mithra orphan. A slightly darker look into the world of Vana'diel.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XI and all places and races owned by Square Enix and all their business glory.

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- - -

She didn't know why this was happening. Couldn't understand why these strange Elvaan men were carrying  
away hers and mommy's belongings. She tugged at the hem of one of the Elvaans. He looked down,  
seemingly indifferent to her plight. "Yes…?" he asked, almost annoyed. But the Mithra child was too young  
to distinguish such a tone.

"Why are you taking mommy's stuff?" she asked, innocently. "Where is mommy? Arrrre we moving again?"

The Elvaan snorted and went back to his checklist. "Your mother's dead, kid. And since the dead have no  
use for furniture, we're taking it back. Why don't you go home to your little jungle island or something. Can't  
you see we're busy?" And with that, not even looking at the child, he reached and plucked her hand from his  
pants.

"Dead? Mommy can't be dead. She's a great warrior!" She spread her arms out for emphasis. "Mommy's  
gonna come back, right? She's gonna come back! So don't take our stuff!" She ran over to one of the repo  
men, er, elves, and began tugging at the handle of the chest he was carrying. "Give our stuff back!"

He snarled and kicked her away. "Get lost, kid. We have a job to do." He stopped, adjusted the weight in his  
arms, and strode out the door.

The young Mithra began to cry, more out of frustration than the pain from the kick. The checklist- Elvaan  
stopped writing and looked at the child, pity, for once, shining through. "A wise man once said 'war makes  
orphans of us all.' Well, guess you're one of those orphans." He went back to his checklist. "If you're lucky,  
perhaps you can find a nice family or something to take you in. And maybe if there's room in the church you can  
stay there." He dotted something conclusively. "Just a suggestion, though. Well, I think we're done here." He  
followed the last of the Elvaans out of the room, which were carrying an old-fashioned bronze bed. Before he  
exited the room, he turned back around to look at the dazed Mithra. "And I'm sure your mother was a wonderful  
warrior. Most of those sent to Tavnazia were. Well," he surveyed the room one last time, to make sure nothing was  
left. "Best of luck, kid." And with that, he strode out the door, closing it behind him.

The Mithra sat in the middle of the room, which now looked more like a prison due to missing furniture and lack  
of an adequate light source. She sniffled and pulled the only thing she was allowed to keep, a stuffed chocobo  
plush, close to her. "Mommy," she cried.

- - -

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A/N: Yes, yes, short chapter, I know. Are they gonna get longer? Who knows. Anywho, this is a character background of my FFXI character, Airelote. I haven't played the game in a while, and I'm starting to miss it, and for some reason I thought "hey, why not write my character background?" and so I did. And so, in a (hopefully) nice change of pace, I will continue writing this story until I am finished with it. Unlike my other stories. Curse me and my lack of enthusiasm! I also don't know how often this "orphan" aspect has been used in FFXI fanfics, and I don't really care, because this is my character and how she became an adventuring thief :P So, enjoy. And I shall update soon. 


	2. Chapter 1: Beginnings

Disclaimer: FFXI and all aspects of it are owned by Square Enix. I own the rights to the character backgrounds (albeit not legally) and story ideas, and any other original things you haven't heard of in the game.

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It had been six months since they had taken her mother's belongings. Six long months that seemed to last an eternity.  
For when one is an orphan, life becomes very tough. She scowled at the unfairness of it. She passed by houses, looking  
in at Elvaan, and occasionally some Hume, children, living the life as if there was nothing wrong. She hated them, envied  
them. Those children who still had families, who still had a home. She growled, taking a bite of a well-earned (meaning  
stolen) fish. Stupid Elvaans who took her home away; stupid Mommy for dying in that stupid war; stupid San d'Oria, for  
making her life miserable. She didn't really understand why no one would take her in; her young mind couldn't comprehend  
racism quite yet. All she knew where that the Elvaans here didn't seem to like her.

- - -

Let us backtrack slightly, to when our main character first started out. She had indeed taken the advice of the checklist-  
Elvaan and gone to the San d'Orian church. After getting lost and stopping for directions quite often, she had found it.  
However, there were apparently other orphans besides herself, and she was turned away, with the excuse that they were  
full and had no room to spare. "Stupid Elvaans," she muttered.

She wandered along the streets for a few hours, looking hungrily at the food stands, setting a hand over her protesting  
stomach. After a while, she gave in to her cravings and wandered over to one stand where some delicious-smelling fish  
were being smoked.

"Fresh fish! Freshly caught and freshly cooked! Get 'em here!" The bald Hume running the stand shouted to the passersby,  
waving a fan over the cooking fish. His attention was shifted to a young Mithra standing at the base of his stand, looking  
up at him expectantly. He groaned. "Listen, kid, if I gave out my wares to every hungry-looking kid who passes me by, I  
wouldn't make any sort of profit!" The girl just twitched an ear and continued to stare at him. He sighed. "In other words,  
you ain't gettin' no free hand-outs! Now scram!" He slammed his hand down on the table, and the girl squeaked and  
scurried off, away from the scary Hume. "Bloody orphans," he muttered before broadcasting his wares again.

The Mithra wandered about the streets some more, getting the same reactions from other vendors as she had with the  
first one.Her stomach was beginning to feel like it was eating itself, she was so hungry.

She suddenly felt someone watching her and looked up; a young Elvaan boy with scraggly silver hair was staring at her  
throughthe crowd. He suddenly started forward, dodging expertly through the crowd toward her and grabbed her hand.  
"Come with me," he muttered before dragging her off.

"Nya?" was all she could muster, the confusion striking her at a loss for words.

He turned his head, still weaving the two through the mass of adults, and surveyed her. "You're an orphan, aren't you?  
You look it." He turned his head back to keep his concentration focused on the navigation.

She paused, and then nodded her head sadly, either not aware, or not caring that a nod isn't audible.

The boy, however, took her silence for a yes. "How long?" he continued. It was said with the sort of tone that you would  
ask of the weather.

"Two days…?" she ventured.

The Elvaan boy stopped suddenly and looked back at her. He studied her again. "Wow, you _are_ new at this, aren't you?  
Good thingI found you when I did." She flicked an ear and cocked her head to the side. "You have so much to learn if  
you wanna make it in this world. Come with me." And with that he proceeded to drag the girl to an undisclosed location,  
not even giving her time to protest.

- - -

The duo finally arrived at…wherever – it looked to the girl like any other part of the housing district – and the boy finally  
let go of her hand, walking up some stairs. The girl rubbed her sore wrist and looked up, hesitating slightly before following.  
The boy suddenly ducked into an alleyway and began weaving through the scaffolding between the houses. She had to pick  
up her pace to a jogging speed to keep up. "We have to make it hard to find," the boy stated without looking back, "so  
that the soldiers don't find us. They don't like us, you know?" He stopped and turned around to make sure the girl was  
keeping up. "By the way, I'm Kayin," he stated, holding out his hand.

"Ai-Airelote," the Mithra girl replied, she looked at his hand before hesitantly taking it. "But Mommy calls me Aire," she  
added.

"Well met," Kayin stated before turning back around and continuing through the alleys at his previous pace. Airelote stood  
there for a second before hurrying after him, once again attempting to match his pace. And for the nth time that day, Kayin  
once again stopped suddenly at a place that looked like any other. It was a triangular-shaped vent, the kind that you see in  
attics, with a pretty-looking flower wind chime hanging next to it. Kayin pulled on the wind chime, and Airelote jumped back  
in surprise when the vent swung out to reveal a hole. Kayin looked back over his shoulder at her, shrugged, dropped to his  
hands and knees, and crawled in. "Come in before it closes," he shouted from the darkness, and Airelote had no choice but  
to quickly dive in.

The door shut behind her and the small attic was plunged into darkness. Her eyes adjusted quickly, however (she _was_ a cat,  
after all), and she could make out Kayin running his hands over the floor, searching for something. Suddenly, he stopped, and  
Airelote could hear him mutter "found it" under his breath, as he lifted up a latch and pulled a section of the floor up to reveal  
a trap door. Warm light spilled in from below and she had to adjust her eyes to the sudden light. "C'mon," Kayin stated, and  
jumped down. She obeyed and leapt down beside him, looking at their surroundings. They were in a hallway. An empty  
hallway,to be precise, except for the candles lining it and providing said warm light.

"I have returned!" Kayin suddenly stated rather loudly, and Airelote jumped in surprise. She jumped again when he grabbed  
her hand and pulled her down the hallway and into a room. It was a nicely furnished room, to her surprise, and the walls  
were lined with beds, most of which were empty. Those that weren't empty had other children, most about her age (which  
was five, by the by), playing card games or jacks, reading books, and two children who had gathered a group around them  
were playing an odd-looking game with pebbles and a long board with carved out depressions in them. A second look around  
revealed that the children were of the different races; Airelote identified other Elvaans, some Humes, even other Mithra to her  
delight, a few Tarutaru children, which she recognized only because some of her Mommy's friends were Tarutaru, and one  
boy who sat in the corner that Airelote could not, for the life of her, recognize. He was large, not so much fat as muscular,  
bushy hair, a chubby tail, and greenish skin. She wondered briefly if this was one of the beastmen her mother had told her  
about; he certainly looked beastly. And his eyes looked like they belonged to an adult, not a child, of which he most certainly  
was, that she could tell. His eyes lifted from the odd pebble-game and glared at her. She "eep"-ed and hid behind Kayin. The  
odd green kid's eyes then lifted to the young Elvaan and stared at him.

Said Elvaan stepped aside and gently nudged Airelote forward. She took one more look at the scary kid and lowered her eyes,  
not speaking. Kayin sighed. "Everyone, listen up. Everyone," he repeated when no one looked up. He cleared his throat. "You  
guys! Everyone shut up and listen!" Airelote flattened her ears and covered them when he shouted. "This is Airelote, and she'll  
be living with us from now on, ok? Got it? Good." He walked forward and motioned for her to follow, which she did, and led  
her to an empty bed in the corner of the room. However, much to Airelote's discontent, it was the bed right next to the green  
kid's, whose eyes followed her trek across the room. She instinctively hid behind Kayin again, who, once again, sighed. "You're  
gonna have to stop doing that, you know?" He then looked from Airelote to the other kid and back again. "What, you've never  
seen a Galka before?" he asked.

"Gal-ka?" she repeated. The name sounded familiar, and she recognized it as one of the races her mother had told her about.  
She relaxed slightly when she heard that. The Galka child nodded.

"My name's Halgrin. Pleased to meet you, Airelote."

"Pleased to meet you," she responded meekly, out of habit.

Kayin sat down on her bed. "Don't mind him, though, he's an odd one. I still don't get the whole reincarnation deal those  
Galkas do."

"Re-in-carnation?" That was a tough word.

Halgrin nodded. "When we Galkas die, our sprits are reincarnated into new, younger bodies, with all our memories of our  
previous lives. We are, in a sense, immortal, though our bodies are not." Airelote flicked her ear in confusion. Halgrin sighed.  
"What I mean, is, we're reborn into these childlike bodies…" Airelote's other ear twitched.

"Give it a rest, old man," Kayin sighed. "You're lucky at least some of us here understand you." He turned to Airelote. "Let's  
see if you understand this: Halgrin's an old man in a kid's body." Halgrin gave him a stern glare.

Airelote twitched her ear again, then let out the famous one word many children her age use: "Why?"

- - -

She flopped down exhausted onto her bed. Two Hume girls, whose names were Clarissa and Stephie, had the duty of stealing  
the food for the day, and had brought two bags home for supper. It wasn't much, and Airelote's stomach still growled at her,  
but at least she wouldn't starve. After eating, Kayin had taken her to do some more training. She was supposed to try and steal  
a rock from a table. Airelote couldn't understand why; her mother had always taught her that stealing was bad. It was still too  
soon for her to realize that the only way to survive was to steal for her dinner.

She looked over at Halgrin, who was reading a book. By just looking at the cover, Airelote could tell it was an adult book,  
and therefore would be hard for her to read. She was beginning to get the idea that he was older than he looked, not  
physically, but mentally, and, well, she couldn't quite get the explanation into words, but the basic summary is that she was  
beginning to understand Halgrin. Because of this, she was beginning to understand this "reincarnation" thing, and soon found  
out that Halgrin had "reincarnated" not too long ago. Sometimes, Airelote would catch Halgrin muttering curses under his  
breath, and then Kayin and Coco, a fifteen-year-old Elvaan, eldest of the orphans, would berate him, telling him not to use  
such language in front of children. Airelote couldn't understand any of it. What she did understand, however, is that Halgrin  
told her wonderful stories, about a desert called Altepa, about the frozen northlands of Uleguerand, and about a giant sea  
monster that roamed the oceans and was sometimes spotted on the ferry between two towns called Mhaura and Selbina.  
And that was good enough for her.

Living with other orphans was actually pretty nice, she mused. As Kayin had explained to her, "We orphans have got to  
stick together. No one else cares for us, so instead we care for each other." She found that there was a sort of schedule,  
where certain children would go out to gather the food. It had taken her a while to understand the fact that they were stealing  
food, and when she realized that, she kept asking why. She still didn't quite get why they couldn't ask for the food, or why  
adults wouldn't give them food, but it was starting to set in that "that was just the way things were," as Kayin had stated  
many times.

She rolled over to her back, groaning in discomfort as her stomach let out another growl for food. Her last thought before  
she drifted off to sleep was that perhaps stealing wasn't so bad if she would live because of it. Maybe she'll try harder  
tomorrow…

- - -

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A/N: Well, this is slightly longer. Still short in my opinion. Anywho…yeah. About Kayin and Halgrin and any other of these names you see here…unless specified otherwise in an Author's Note, these are all original characters of my creation, and if there is a silver-haired Elvaan named Kayin, or a Galka named Halgrin out there somewhere, it's pure coincidence your names are alike, ok? Also, some people might wonder about the title of this fic: Snow in the Dark. Yes, I stole the name. It's the name of a wonderful one-volume manga which retells the story of Snow White in a much darker tone. And it's a tragedy. Which this fic won't be…mostly… Anyways, it also fits, cause, I haven't said it yet, but Aire's hair is snow white, and these are dark times they live in…oh, I amuse myself so! But the next chapter shall be written either A: when I feel like it and/or B: when I have time to write it. Being at college takes up some time, y'know? So, I shall see you all later. 


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